overwhelm
Americanverb (used with object)
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to overcome completely in mind or feeling.
overwhelmed by remorse.
-
to overpower or overcome, especially with superior forces; destroy; crush.
Roman troops were overwhelmed by barbarians.
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to cover or bury beneath a mass of something, as floodwaters, debris, or an avalanche; submerge.
Lava from erupting Vesuvius overwhelmed the city of Pompeii.
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to load, heap, treat, or address with an overpowering or excessive amount of anything.
a child overwhelmed with presents; to overwhelm someone with questions.
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to overthrow.
verb
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to overpower the thoughts, emotions, or senses of
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to overcome with irresistible force
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to overcome, as with a profusion or concentration of something
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to cover over or bury completely
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to weigh or rest upon overpoweringly
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archaic to overturn
Usage
What’s the difference between overwhelm and underwhelm? The over- in overwhelm means “too much” and the under- in underwhelm essentially means “too little,” and the two words can be direct opposites, but they’re usually used in different contexts. Overwhelm most commonly means to cause to be overcome with emotion as a result of an amount of something (work, stress, etc.) that’s just too much to handle. (It can also mean to overpower or physically cover beneath a mass of something). Underwhelm means to fail to impress, especially when that is the expectation. Both words are often used in adjective forms: overwhelmed (overcome to the point of not being able to manage), overwhelming (describing something that leads to feeling overwhelmed), underwhelmed (unimpressed or disappointed), and underwhelming (unimpressive or disappointing). Being overwhelmed isn’t always about stress or other negative emotions. You could be overwhelmed by a friend’s generosity or the birth of a child. Still, it’s usually about feeling a lot. In this way, underwhelm can be the opposite of overwhelm in some situations. For example, the same concert may overwhelm one person (perhaps it’s the first concert they’ve ever attended) but underwhelm someone else (maybe because it doesn’t meet their high expectations). And, yes, whelm is a word. It can mean the same thing as overwhelm, but it’s very rarely used. Here’s an example of overwhelm and underwhelm used correctly in the same sentence. Example: I never want to underwhelm the fans, and sometimes that pressure can overwhelm me, but it all goes away when I walk on stage. Want to learn more? Read the full breakdown of the difference between overwhelm and underwhelm.
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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overwhelmsimple
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overwhelmssimple
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have overwhelmedperfect
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has overwhelmedperfect
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am overwhelmingprogressive
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are overwhelmingprogressive
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is overwhelmingprogressive
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have been overwhelmingperfect progressive
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has been overwhelmingperfect progressive
Past
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overwhelmedsimple
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had overwhelmedperfect
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was overwhelmingprogressive
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were overwhelmingprogressive
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had been overwhelmingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of overwhelm
A Middle English word dating back to 1300–50; see origin at over-, whelm
Explanation
Overwhelm means “give a person too much of something.” If your friend agrees to feed your pet fish while you’re on vacation, don’t overwhelm her with requests by also asking her to do your laundry and wash the dishes. While it’s easy to be overwhelmed by chores or complaints, it’s also possible to be overwhelmed by good things — if they occur in large quantities. You might enjoy a stack of pancakes for breakfast, but you'd probably find a truckload of pancakes overwhelming. Sometimes people feel overwhelmed by emotion, and this can be a positive or negative experience, depending on the emotion. For example, you might feel overwhelmed by gratitude if your friend takes excellent care of your fish, but overwhelmed with grief if the fish is accidentally flushed in your absence.
Vocabulary lists containing overwhelm
The Diary of Anne Frank
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Anti-Antonyms: Words Without Opposites
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List 7
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
The new album appears designed to tease, coax and overwhelm the listener.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 21, 2026
They also had lower indicators of oxidative stress, a form of cellular damage caused when unstable molecules known as reactive oxygen species overwhelm the body's protective systems.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 18, 2026
Blockbuster stock sales are threatening to overwhelm the bull market.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 15, 2026
They say the facilities, which house the equipment powering AI and computing systems, could overwhelm the local power supply and hike utility bills.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 14, 2026
Burt kept saying Alice Kinnian feels he has an overwhelm** desir to lern.
From "Flowers for Algernon" by Daniel Keyes
Determining this requires finding the point at which the domestically borne share of distortions becomes so large that it overwhelms the tariff revenue.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 26, 2026
Even here in the relative safety of Annapolis, Maryland, an advancing armada of amped-up college kids overwhelms me.
From Slate ● Jun. 24, 2026
Rates may rise even in recession this time, because the supply of Treasury debt overwhelms demand at current yields.
From MarketWatch ● Apr. 9, 2026
"Sometimes it still overwhelms you," the skater said.
From Barron's ● Feb. 12, 2026
At the same time, it seems to be more of a reading for the circus as a whole than for Celia in particular, but it is so emotional that it overwhelms the details.
From "The Night Circus" by Erin Morgenstern
If your boss is overwhelmed already, any questions, no matter how fair, might send her into a tailspin.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 31, 2026
“With that scheduling pressure and overwhelmed by misgivings about getting the abortion—what if I wanted to proceed but couldn’t later?—I took the first of two pills for a chemical abortion.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 30, 2026
In “Samurai,” Murashige hews closer to someone overwhelmed by responsibility.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 30, 2026
This means that when it rains, if there is not enough spare capacity, the system and sewage treatment works can be quickly overwhelmed.
From BBC ● Jul. 22, 2026
As much as he admired Paul and was influenced by his views, Jim sometimes felt overwhelmed by his friend’s self-assurance and charisma.
From "Mountains Beyond Mountains" by Tracy Kidder and Michael French
The Senate opened debate this week on the late South Carolina senator’s legacy legislation—the Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act—by an overwhelming 86–12 vote.
From Slate ● Aug. 1, 2026
Back then, at a vote held in Kigali, Rwanda, the support for him was so overwhelming that he was ushered back into office by acclaim, with a storming round of applause replacing a formal vote.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 31, 2026
Lowe tells the BBC it acts "quickly and decisively" on the rare occasion someone breaches its standards and that the "overwhelming majority" of guardians go on to be "brilliant, community-minded residents".
From BBC ● Jul. 30, 2026
I know apartment hunting can be overwhelming, especially when you’re doing it from a different city, and hiring a broker might seem like a convenience that’s well worth the cost.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 27, 2026
Yet for the first time in ages life in Osage County went on without his overwhelming presence.
From "Killers of the Flower Moon" by David Grann
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
